IPL 2026 | Match 52: RR vs GT| Preview and Predictions

Match 52 of the 2026 Indian Premier League season will see a clash between the Rajasthan Royals and an in-form Gujarat Titans on 9th May in Jaipur. 

Indian Premier League 2026 | Match 52: Rajasthan Royals vs Gujarat Titans | 19:30 IST, 9th May 

Rajasthan Royals have ridden high on the back of their opening bowling and batting this season. The destructive opening pair of Yashasvi Jaiswal and Vaibhav Suryanvanshi have wreaked havoc on the opposition bowlers while their opening pace duo of Jofra Archer and Nandre Burger have been a massive problem for the opposition batters. However, barring Dhruv Jurel and Donovan Ferreira, the middle order hasn’t really accounted for many runs and with the exception of one or two games, captain Riyan Parag has been miserably out of form. 

Their most recent fixture was against the Delhi Capitals where their openers failed to contribute and went early but Riyan Parag and Dhruv Jurel stitched up a big partnership to steer RR towards a big total before Ferreira’s late blitz of 47 not out off 14 balls took his side to a massive total of 220+. It was one of those rare days though when their quicks went for a lot of runs with the DC openers KL Rahul and Pathum Nissanka making merry. Nitish Rana too contributed with a quickfire 30+ score to help the Capitals chase down the high total. Even though RR lost the game, they would have been glad to see their captain Riyan Parag back in form. RR are currently sitting in fourth spot in the league table with six wins out of 10 games and need to win this to strengthen their chances for one of the play-off spots. 

As for Gujarat Titans, they started the season poorly having lost the first two matches of the campaign and won the third on the last ball. However, they have found their mojo back and have won three straight games now. Captain Shubman Gill is back in form and scoring runs freely. The opening pair of Jos Buttler and Sai Sudharsan have also contributed handsomely. Mohammed Siraj, Kagiso Rabada, Jason Holder and Washington Sundar have made crucial contributions as well. 

Their last match was against high-flying Punjab Kings who were on a winning streak but the GT bowlers reduced them to  47/5 with Siraj and Rabada breathing fire in the opening spell. Both pacers took two wickets each but it was the Barbadian allrounder Jason Holder who took the cake with a spell of 4/24. If not for a lower order partnership between newcomer Suryansh Shegde and Marcus Stoinis, PBKS wouldn’t have been able to cross even 120. 

In response, Sai Sudharsan led the chase with a crucial fifty but the Punjab bowlers kept chipping away at the wickets. The experienced Washington Sundar then finished the chase with a six off the second last ball to take GT home. In the end, GT made it look tougher than it should have been, winning the match with one ball remaining – too close for comfort. 

Coming to this matchup, the GT opening bowlers would need to be wary of the RR opening batters. If Jaiswal and Suryavanshi get off to a good start, they could spell trouble for the Titans. It was against this same bowling attack that Suryavanshi scored his first IPL century last season and he would fancy their pace. It could make sense to get Rashid Khan early and test him against spin. Alternatively, if GT bat first, they would need to post a 220+ total as the RR openers and lower order batters Ferreira and 

Shubham Dubey are capable of chasing down big totals. 

The Jaipur pitch is batter-friendly with relatively smaller boundaries and whoever wins the toss would look to chase as the conditions won’t change much over the course of the game. Either team would look to bowl first, try and restrict the opposition to a chaseable total and then go for the win. 

Looking at this matchup, we feel that RR have an edge as their batting is slightly superior to that of GT. Our prediction for this game would be that Rajasthan Royals will win this game and thereby end GT’s three-game winning streak. 

Fantasy XI: Shubman Gill (c), Vaibhav Suryavanshi, Jos Buttler, Dhruv Jurel (wk), Washington Sundar, Ravindra Jadeja, Donovan Ferreira, Rashid Khan, Jofra Archer, Kagiso Rabada, Mohammed Siraj

Venue: Sawai Mansingh Stadium, Jaipur 

Winner’s Prediction: Rajasthan Royals